The Recipe Doctor's Favorite Kitchen Tools

I do quite a bit of cooking in my family life and in my professional life and I definitely have a few of my favorite kitchen tools that make all that cooking easier. If you have a new kitchen or if you are giving your old kitchen a little makeover...check out some of the tools I use to make my healthy recipes.

Kitchen Aid Standing Mixer

Tracy Ducasse /
CC BY 2.0

At the top of the list would be my Kitchen Aid standing mixer. I use it so much I've had to replace the attachments over the years. I would get a new one, what with all the new cool colors you can get them in now, but my ten year old white one is still going strong. These mixers are built to last, that's for sure. I use the mixer for everything from cookie dough to muffins and mashed potatoes.

Mini Food Processor
Often you don't have enough food that you are "processing" to fire up the regular sized food processor, especially if you are cooking for just one or two. The mini food processor is the answer. I actually I use my mini food processor more than I do my regular sized one. Need to puree an avocado or a cup of raspberries? Need to chop some nuts quickly? Need to grind some toasted oats into oat flour? Time to pull out that mini food processor.

Indoor Grill
One of my favorite veggie side dishes is grilled asparagus spears. I can make a batch of these in 5 minutes using my indoor grill (like a George Foreman brand grill). One of my favorite sandwiches is grilled eggplant with fresh basil or pesto and mozzarella. The best way I've found to grill up thickly sliced eggplant is with my indoor grill.

Microwave Vegetable Steamer (Pampered Chef)
When I'm making dinner, I'm often tending to the entrée so I like being able to place my vegetables in a container designed for the microwave and just press a button. The lid of this container has holes in it (to let the steam escape) so I just set the cut fresh veggies in the container, add water into the container to rinse the veggies, place the lid on top, and then turn the container upside down to drain the water out. Whatever water droplets are left on the veggies are enough to help them steam and stay moist. You want to avoid over-cooking your vegetables, so set your microwave to a shorter rather than longer cooking time.

What is your favorite kitchen tool? Do you have something you really depend on? Tell us about it!

Related Topics:

• Healthy Cooking with Elaine Magee, RD
• Healthy Cooking Newsletter - recipes, kitchen and shopping advice in your inbox

Recipe Makeover: Nancy's Pumpkin Bread

Every year for the past 5 years, a friend of mine brings a much anticipated and appreciated loaf of pumpkin bread over as a holiday gift. And every year I think to myself that it just might be one of the best-tasting pumpkin breads I've had. Well, this year I asked her for the recipe.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did warn her that I would be "messing with" her recipe by lowering the fat, saturated fat, and sugar and switching to half whole-wheat flour. If you are a sweet potato fan, then by all means use cooked, pureed sweet potatoes in place of the canned pumpkin.

Here's what happened nutritionally:
The calories decreased from 258 to 169 and the grams of fat and cholesterol were chopped in half, saturated fat was cut by 2/3rds, and fiber doubled.

Nancy's Light Pumpkin Bread

Photo: Elaine Magee

Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup lite pancake syrup or maple syrup
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
6 tablespoons lowfat milk or fat-free half-and-half
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with foil or paper liners, or if making bread, coat a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with canola cooking spray (dust lightly with flour if desired); set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine all the wet ingredients by beating on medium speed until well blended.
3. Pour the dry ingredients, all at once, into the mixing bowl and beat on medium-low until blended, scrape sides of the bowl and blend again.
4. Fill prepared muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter or pour all of the batter in the prepared loaf pan. Bake until top of muffins spring back nicely after gentle pressure (about 30 minutes). If making a loaf, bake for about 70 minutes.

Yield: makes 12 muffins or 1, 9 x 5-inch loaf. If you want to make 2 loaves or 24 muffins, just double the recipe.

Nutritional analysis per serving: 169 calories, 3 g protein, 29 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat, .5 g saturated fat, 3 g monounsaturated fat, 1.5 g polyunsaturated fat, 18 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 185 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 27 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .4 gram, Omega-6 fatty acids = 1 gram.

Original recipe contains 258 calories, 10 grams of fat, 1.5 grams saturated fat, and 36 mg cholesterol per muffin or slice.

NOTE: If you want to add the Cinnamon Vanilla Glaze - In a mixing bowl, combine 1/4-cup light cream cheese, 1/2-cup powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons fat free vanilla creamer or similar, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Related Topics:

• Healthy Cooking with Elaine Magee, RD
• Healthy Cooking Newsletter - recipes, kitchen and shopping advice in your inbox

Recipe Makeover: Homemade Tuna Noodle Casserole

Sharing a meal with your family has many benefits and is so important - especially these days. Here's new take on an old favorite for a homemade family supper. Typical tuna casserole recipes contain around 450 calories, 23 g fat, 12 g saturated fat, and 70 mg cholesterol per serving. This version is 100 calories less per serving and cuts the fat by more than 50%!

Elaine's Homemade Tuna Noodle Casserole

Photo: Elaine Magee

Ingredients:

6 ounces whole wheat blend extra wide noodles (about 4 cups cooked)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup chopped red or green bell pepper
2 cups sliced mushrooms (baby portabellas, crimini, or regular)
2 teaspoon minced or chopped garlic
3 tablespoons unbleached flour
3 tablespoons fat-free half-and-half (low-fat milk can be used)
1 cup fat-free half-and-half (low-fat milk can be used)
3/4 cup condensed or double strength low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano flakes
Black pepper to taste (1/2 teaspoon or more)
2 cups lightly cooked green vegetables of choice (sugar snap peas or broccoli florets) or 1 cup of green peas
10 ounces solid white albacore tuna, drained
1 cup reduced fat sharp cheese
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup crouton crumbs (Put some croutons in a sandwich bag and use a rolling pin or the flat side of a meat mallet to transform your croutons into crumbs)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and coat a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with canola or olive oil cooking spray.
2. Start boiling the water for the pasta in a large saucepan. When the water is boiling, cook the noodles following the directions on the pasta box or bag. When cooked al dente, drain the noodles in a colander and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, start heating a large nonstick skillet or large saucepan with the olive oil over HIGH heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, and garlic into the skillet and sauté for 5 minutes or until mushroom are lightly brown in some places.
4. In small bowl, combine the flour with 3 tablespoons of half-and-half. Slowly stir in the cup of half-and-half and the chicken broth. Pour the flour mixture into the skillet with vegetables and cook on low until the sauce is nicely thickened (about 3 minutes). While it's cooking, stir in the oregano and black pepper.
5. In the skillet, combine the green vegetable, tuna chunks, cooked and drained noodles, and cheeses with the sauce. Spoon the mixture into prepared baking dish and sprinkle the crouton crumbs evenly over the top. Bake the casserole, uncovered, in the oven until the edges and crumbs on top are golden brown (about 25 minutes). Enjoy!

Yield: Makes 6 servings

Nutrition Analysis per serving: 350 calories, 27 g protein, 39 g carbohydrate, 10 g fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, 3.3 g monounsaturated fat, 1.2 g polyunsaturated fat, 39 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 391 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 26 percent calories from fat. Omega-3 fatty acids = .5 g, Omega-6 fatty acids = .5

Related Topics:

• Healthy Cooking with Elaine Magee, RD
• Healthy Cooking Newsletter - recipes, kitchen and shopping advice in your inbox

Recipe Makeover: Asiago Bagel Breakfast Bake

Don't you just love the Panera bakery/sandwich chain? Apparently their asiago bagels are totally yummy. I make it a habit to only order whole-wheat bagels, so I can only speak for their whole wheat/whole grain selection. Anyway, they have a wonderful recipe for "Asiago Bagel Breakfast Bake" on their website and I thought I would give it a Recipe Doctor makeover.

It calls for their asiago bagels but we can use whole-wheat bagels and the whole "asiago" taste will still come through because the recipe also calls for 6 ounces of asiago cheese (although I dialed this down to 4 ounces)! We are also using half higher omega-3 eggs and half egg substitute and we are using reduced fat versions of the Jack or cheddar cheese and the milk.

Here are the savings!

Per serving:

	Original Recipe	Light Recipe
Calories	420	330
Total Fat (g)	22	12
Saturated Fat (g)	11	6.5
Cholesterol (mg)	273	143
Fiber (g)	1.8	5

LIGHTER WHOLE WHEAT ASIAGO BAGEL BREAKFAST BAKE

Photo: Elaine Magee

Ingredients

4 large eggs, higher omega-3 if available
1 cup egg substitute (you can use the southwest flavor option if desired)
2 cups fat free half and half or 1% lowfat milk
1 teaspoon fresh chopped tarragon or ½ teaspoon dried tarragon
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Freshly ground black pepper to taste (start with 1/4 teaspoon)
6 ounces reduced fat Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup grated or shredded asiago cheese (add more if desired)
4 large whole wheat or whole grain bagels, cut into bite-size pieces

Directions

1. In large mixing bowl, beat together eggs, egg substitute, fat free half and half, tarragon, paprika and pepper (add more to taste).
2. In medium bowl, toss the cheeses together (whichever ones you are using). Coat a 2-quart casserole dish or 9 x 13-inch baking dish with canola cooking spray or coat lightly with canola oil.
3. Layer half of the bagel pieces in prepared dish then half of the cheese then repeat the layers with the remaining bagel pieces and cheese. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the bread mixture then cover the dish and keep in the refrigerator overnight.
4. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350-degrees. Bake casserole, uncovered, until the top is golden brown (about 1 hour).

Yield: Makes 8 servings

Nutrition Information per serving: 330 calories, 22 g protein, 34 g carbohydrate, 12 g fat, 6.5 g saturated fat, 3 g monounsaturated fat, 2.5 g polyunsaturated fat, 143 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 735 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 33 percent.

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• Healthy Breakfast Ideas and Recipes
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Recipe Makeover: Tyler Florence's Chicken Francese

Have you ever noticed how popular chicken is with all those Food Network television chefs? I often cruise through the Food Network website looking for some interesting recipes to lighten and I've got to say, poultry seems to reign supreme! So I wasn't that surprised when the recipe that appealed to me from Tyler Florence featured chicken.

The original recipe calls for dredging the chicken breasts in seasoned flour and then in beaten whole eggs. They are then fried in 1/4 cup of oil in a skillet. Instead, I used an egg substitute "with yolk" product that is lower in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol than beaten whole eggs (and it's really easy to use too). I still used olive oil to brown the chicken breast, but I used 2 1/2 tablespoons instead of 4. With a nonstick skillet, this was just the right amount of oil. The original recipe then calls for a lemon sauce to be made in the skillet using all sorts of flavorful ingredients like sliced lemon, white wine, chicken broth, parsley, and a couple tablespoons of butter. I took out the butter completely and switched to a sweeter white wine that wouldn't need the butter to help mellow the flavor.

These changes cut the calories by 28% and fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol by about 60%.

	Before	After
Calories	475	340
Fat(g)	26	11
Saturated Fat (g)	7.5	2.2
Cholesterol mg)	217	96
Fiber (g)	.6	.6

Light & Easy Chicken Francese

Photo: Elaine Magee

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon black pepper (depending on preference)
1 cup egg substitute "with yolk" (if that product is not available, use 3/4 cup of any type of egg substitute and blend with 1 large egg)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, with rind, cut in thin rounds
1/2 cup sweet white wine
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon unbleached white flour
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (regular parsley can be substituted)

Directions:

1. Lay one chicken breast in between two sheets of wax paper and pound with the flat side of meat mallet until about 1/4-inch thick. Put the flour in a medium bowl and combine with salt and pepper. Place egg substitute or egg mixture in a wide medium bowl.
2. Add a tablespoon of the oil to a nonstick skillet or large frying pan and begin to heat on medium-high. Begin to dredge both sides of each chicken breast in the flour mixture and then dip them in the egg mixture to coat completely. When the oil is hot, add two cutlets to the skillet and cook until underside is golden (about 2 minutes). Coat the top of the chicken cutlets with canola or olive oil cooking spray. Flip chicken over and cook until second side is golden. Remove chicken to a large platter and cover with foil to keep warm.
3. Repeat step #2 with the remaining oil and chicken breasts.
4. When all 4 chicken breasts are keeping warm on the platter, add the lemon slices to the same skillet and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the wine, broth, and lemon juice and when the mixture comes to a gentle boil, reduce the heat to a simmer. Continue to cook until the sauce is reduced a little (about 4 minutes total).
5. Blend about 3 tablespoons of the hot liquid with 1 tablespoon of white flour to form a loose paste. Add flour paste to the skillet and whisk into the hot liquid and continue to cook and stir until a nicely thickened smooth sauce forms.
6. Place the chicken back in the skillet with the sauce and place the lemon slices on top of the chicken as the chicken simmers for a couple of minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley right before serving!

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Information per serving: 340 calories, 41 g protein, 19 g carbohydrate, 11 g fat, 2.2 g saturated fat, 6.5 g monounsaturated fat, 1.7 g polyunsaturated fat, 96 mg cholesterol, .6 g fiber, 238 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 29 percent.

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Recipe Makeover: Paula Deen's Chicken & Rice Casserole

I love doing Paula Deen recipe makeovers because:

1. She rocks the kitchen.


2. She has a tendency toward my kind of cooking (comfort food).


3. There are always quite a few changes I can make for a big ticket nutritional pay off.

Today we are making over Paula’s popular Chicken & Rice Casserole. The original recipe calls for canned green beans. I don't do canned vegetables (not that there is anything wrong with that - except the added sodium); I just would rather use frozen or fresh vegetables. I think they taste better, although it seems that people prefer whatever they were raised with.

I also used skinless roasted chicken breast instead of any type of chicken meat with skin. And I used the 98% fat free condensed cream of chicken soup instead of regular and reduced fat sharp cheddar instead of regular. I made a blend of light mayonnaise and fat free sour cream instead of real mayonnaise, which creates a wonderful tasting mixture with 75% less grams of fat compared to the real thing.

Lastly the original recipe calls for a box of long grain white and wild rice. I used 4 cups of cooked brown rice and it seemed to work great. The pinch of salt (or any salt or that matter) simply isn't needed with the other ingredients that will contribute some sodium.

We cut the calories by 45% and the total fat and saturated fat were cut by about 70%! Cholesterol was cut in half and the fiber increased by 2 grams per serving.

Here’s the best part...it still tastes terrific - savory and satisfying!

	Before	After
Calories	646	354
Fat (g)	38	11
Saturated Fat (g)	9	3
Cholesterol (mg)	120	62
Fiber (g)	3.5	5.5

Light & Easy Chicken & Rice Casserole

Photo: Elaine Magee

Ingredients:

10 3/4-ounce can condensed cream of chicken or celery soup
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
3 cups frozen green beans
3 cups diced, cooked chicken breast, without skin
1 medium sweet or yellow onion, chopped
8 ounce can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
4 ounce jar or can pimentos, drained (optional)
4 cups cooked brown rice (or cooked brown rice and wild rice blend)
1 cup shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Coat a 9 x 13-inch baking dish (or 3-quart casserole dish) with canola cooking spray.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine condensed soup, light mayonnaise and fat free sour cream.
3. Add remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl and combine with mayonnaise mixture. Spread into prepared baking dish and bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Yield: makes 8 servings

Nutritional Information per serving: 354 calories, 25 g protein, 38.5 g carbohydrate, 11 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 4 g monounsaturated fat, 3 g polyunsaturated fat, 62 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 435 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 28 percent.

Related Topics:

• Quick, Easy Recipes: More 'Halfway Homemade' Dishes
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• Healthy Cooking Newsletter - recipes, kitchen and shopping advice in your inbox

Lighten Up, Chicken!

Food Network Chicken Recipe Gets a Visit From The WebMD Recipe Doctor

I get a lot of requests on my Recipe Doctor website to lighten up various dishes from The Food Network. People usually write that they want to try the particular recipe, but are put off by all of the rich and fatty ingredients. I actually got three requests for this same chicken dish, so I decided to lighten it up and share the simple and savory recipe with all of you!

Basically I dramatically reduced the cooking fat and switched to a smart oil, plus I doubled the vegetables and used a reduced fat cheese.

The original recipe calls for half a stick of butter; I used 4 teaspoons of canola or olive oil. I used 2 cups of mushrooms and 1/3 cup of shallots compared to 1 cup of mushrooms and 2 tablespoons of shallots in the original recipe. I eliminated the salt and used 1 cup of part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese instead of whole milk mozzarella. I also eliminated a preparation step to keep it all in one pot. Less to do and less to wash!

Here are the SAVINGS:

Calories decreased from 386 to 330
Fat grams decreased from 22.5 grams to 14 grams
Saturated fat decreased from 13 grams to 5 grams
Cholesterol decreased from 152 to 111 mg
Sodium decreased from 429 to 236 mg (mushrooms have a lot of natural flavor)
Fiber went up from .3 gram to almost 1 gram
Omega-3s went up from .2 gram to .6 gram (using canola oil)

Light & Easy Georgia Chicken

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons canola or olive oil, divided use
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (available pre-washed and pre-cut)
1/3 cup minced shallots (chopped onion can be substituted)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese (or cheese of choice)

Preparation:

1. In large, nonstick skillet begin heating 2 teaspoons of canola or olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the sliced mushrooms and shallots and saute until lightly brown (about 5 minutes). Spoon out mushroom mixture to medium bowl and set aside.
2. In same large, nonstick skillet, begin heating the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil over medium-high heat. Coat both sides of chicken breasts with hot oil in pan and continue to brown both sides until cooked throughout (about 8 minutes on each side). Sprinkle pepper over the top.
3. Sprinkle cheese even over the top of chicken then top evenly with the mushroom mixture. Turn off heat, cover skillet, and let the chicken dish rest for 5 minutes to melt cheese and blend flavors.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

WebMD Weight Loss Clinic Members journal as: 1 serving lean meat with sauce + 2 ounces lowfat cheese OR 1 frozen dinner light + 2 ounces lowfat cheese OR 1 1/2 cups hearty stews

Nutrition Information per serving: 330 calories, 44 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 14 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 111 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 236 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 38 percent.

Related Topics:

• Tips for New Cooks - Chicken
• Healthy Cooking with Elaine Magee, RD
• Healthy Cooking Newsletter - recipes, kitchen and shopping advice in your inbox

Bacon Explosion Recipe - Heart Attack Waiting to Happen

A big hit on the internet is a heart attack waiting to happen!

Photo Credit: BBQ Addicts

Superbowl 2009 is a couple of days away, so I totally get that some appetizer recipes are going to be circulating around the internet right about now. But the New York Times took note of one that's over the top. The big one this year comes to us from the BBQ Addicts website and it's so fatty it makes the Bloomin' Onion from The Outback seem like diet food. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but when I saw the picture of this Bacon Explosion appetizer with layers of bacon and fatty Italian sausage all rolled up, it really did look like an artery filled with plaque to me. I may not have been so far off...

Photo Credit: BBQ Addicts

There are 4 ingredients to this recipe, half of which are two of the fattiest, highest saturated fat foods you could put on your plate-bacon and sausage.

I figured the 2 pounds of bacon, 2 pounds of Italian sausage; jar of barbeque sauce and jar of barbeque rub would make 16 appetizer servings which means each appetizer serving contains:

506 calories
43.5 g fat
15 g saturated fat
82 mg cholesterol
15 g protein
13 g carbohydrate
1263 mg sodium

But if you are interested in making a lighter mini version of the Bacon Explosion (let's call it "Bacon - Save Your Life- Appetizer"), check out the following recipe that you can make in your oven and that contains half of the calories and 2/3rds less fat, and saturated fat compared to the Bacon Explosion.

Mini Bacon-Save Your-Life Appetizer

Ingredients:

12-ounce package Louis Rich turkey bacon (or similar)
1 tablespoon favorite
barbeque rub or spice blend
12 ounces Jimmy Dean Reduced Fat Pork Sausage
(or similar)
1/2 cup favorite barbeque sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees and line a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with foil.
2. Create a square of woven turkey bacon slices by laying 5 slices of turkey bacon on a flat surface from north to south and 5 more from east to west then create a tight weave of turkey bacon.
3. Sprinkle a teaspoon or two of your favorite barbecue seasoning on top of your bacon weave. Fry up the remaining turkey bacon until crisp, drain on paper towels then crumble the slices into smaller pieces; set aside.
4. Unwrap your package of light sausage and stretch out the sausage to create layers so it covers the bacon weave, leaving one row of bacon uncovered at one end.
5. Take the crumbled pieces of bacon and sprinkle them evenly over the layer of sausage. Drizzle the barbecue sauce all over the bacon pieces. You can sprinkle some more barbecue rub (a teaspoon or two) over the top of this if desired.
6. Carefully separate the front edge of the sausage layer from the bacon weave and begin rolling up the sausage with the bacon filling, Once the sausage is all rolled up, pinch together the seams and ends to seal all of the bacon goodness inside. Now roll the sausage forward completely wrapping it in the turkey bacon weave. Set the rolled up turkey bacon and sausage roll into the prepared loaf pan (it will just barely fit).
7. Sprinkle some barbecue seasoning on the outside of the bacon weave roll if desired. Cover the loaf pan with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Uncover the dish and continue to bake until the sausage is cooked throughout and the bacon weave on the outside is dark brown (about 10 to 15 minutes more). Let the bacon roll rest for 10 minutes. You can brush a couple of tablespoons of barbecue sauce over the outside of the roll if desired.
8. Cut with serrated knife into 8 or more slices. Serve this by itself as an appetizer or serve it with whole wheat crackers or sliced baguette bread.

Yield: This mini version makes about 8 appetizers.

Nutritional Analysis per serving: 220 calories, 12 g protein, 8 g carbohydrate, 15 g fat, 4.4 g saturated fat, 59 mg cholesterol, 930 mg sodium.

Photos reproduced with permission from the BBQ Addicts.

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• Super-Fast and Easy Appetizer Recipes
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Lightening Up The Inaugural Luncheon

White House Chef Meets the WebMD Recipe Doctor

Are you surprised that the most visited page on the official inaugural website was the Inaugural Luncheon Menu & Recipes? We are, after all, a nation of kitchen voyeurs who have made countless chefs and cooks celebrities. If millions of interested Americans can't physically be one of the 200 guests attending the luncheon, maybe they feel like they can at least eat the same dishes that were served...which by the way were apparently fashioned after dishes favored by Abe Lincoln. This was done in tribute to the bicentennial of the birth of the 16th president of the United States. Can't argue with that!

But glancing at the luncheon recipes, I couldn't help but notice how making some small ingredient changes could translate into BIG savings in calories, fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. So humor me a little here and let's take a look at some of the menu changes I would have made if the Inaugural Luncheon Committee had dialed "Recipe Doctor 9-1-1."

First Course: Seafood Stew
Bring on all the seafood - lobsters, scallops, shrimp, and black cod. Loving all the vegetables too - carrots, celery, leeks, potato. But there are two ingredients in this recipe that could single-handedly undo any health benefits from the seafood and veggies:

• Heavy cream
• Puff pastry

Each serving of the Seafood Stew contains .4 cup of heavy cream, which translates into:

328 calories
35 grams total fat
22 grams saturated fat
130 milligrams cholesterol

WOW! But if we switch to whole milk or fat free half and half, each .4 cup now contributes: about 58 calories, 1 to 3 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 5 to 10 milligrams cholesterol.

And each serving of the puff pastry adds:

239 calories
17 grams total fat
3.7 grams saturated fat
129 milligrams cholesterol

Actually we could eliminate this ingredient completely (the stew is served in a ramekin and the puff pastry is baked on top of the stew) and top the stew instead with a nice mixture of panko crumbs, fresh herbs and shredded Parmesan.

For a grand total savings of:

509 calories
50 grams total fat
25 grams saturated fat
249 milligrams cholesterol per serving!

Second Course: Duck Breast with Cherry Chutney
I love how lots of flavors are coming from wonderful ingredients like garlic, shallot, cumin, Dijon mustard, red bell pepper, etc. And I'm digging that 1 tablespoon of olive oil (high in the preferable monounsaturated fat) was chosen to sauté the vegetables. And then we come to the featured fowl - duck breasts WITH skin. Duck is already a fairly rich and oily meat so why would they feel inclined to include the skin, which is where roughly half of all the fat is? Don't answer that - I already know what you are all going to say.

You can shave off all kinds of calories and fat just by taking off the skin before cooking. It depends on the type of duck used, but just by taking off the skin you could potentially save (per serving):

150 calories
13 grams total fat
6 grams saturated fat
10 milligrams cholesterol

The duck is served with a side of Winter Vegetables featuring a lovely assortment of veggies doused in butter and twice as much olive oil. Each serving of vegetables comes with almost 1/2 tablespoon of butter and almost 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I think we can get away with 1 1/2 teaspoons of cooking fat total! The butter (4 tablespoons total) is blended with orange zest and is used to top the carrots and wax beans. We can keep the orange zest, switch to whipped butter and drop down to 1 1/2 tablespoons total or 1/2 teaspoon per serving. Then we'll drop the olive down from almost 9 tablespoons to 3 tablespoons total or 1 teaspoon per serving.

Add these savings to the skinless duck savings and you've got a grand total savings of:

245 calories
23 grams fat
8 grams saturated fat
18 milligrams cholesterol per serving!

Note: Another side dish served with the second course is Molasses Whipped Sweet Potatoes. The recipe is abundantly flavored and sweetened with orange juice, molasses, and maple syrup, so they probably technically don't need the 2 tablespoons of butter called for in the recipe. But since the recipe makes 16 servings (1/2-cup each), the savings aren't going to be that big per serving. That would just be nutritional knit picking.

Third Course: Cinnamon Apple Sponge Cake
This wasn't what I expected when I read the recipe name. This is a complicated dish that includes pieces of brioche bread dipped in a total of 14 tablespoons butter (for 10 servings) used to line individual serving molds. A homemade apple filling made with 4 tablespoons butter is at the center of the individual sponge cake and then a stovetop caramel apple sauce is drizzled over the cake and topped with vanilla ice cream.

Here's the thing...given our last two courses, I'm thinking we can lose the sponge cake altogether and go straight to a nice scoop of light vanilla ice cream topped with that stove top caramel apple sauce.

I'm including a recipe for a lighter version of their recipe using double the amount of diced apples sautéed in 1 tablespoon of whipped butter (instead of regular) and tossed into half the amount of caramel sauce. I added 2 tablespoons of lowfat milk to help cream up and thin out the thick caramel sauce too.

Do this, and we save a grand total of:

662 calories
36 grams fat
21 grams saturated fat
120 milligrams cholesterol per serving!
(And this doesn't even include the brioche bread!)

Inaugural Inspired Cinnamon Apple Ice Cream Treat

Ingredients:

1/2 cup caramel sauce (store bought ice cream topping)
2 tablespoons lowfat milk or fat free half and half
1 tablespoon whipped butter
2 1/4 cups granny smith apples, cored, diced small
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5, 1/2-cup servings of light vanilla ice cream

Directions:

1. In 2-cup measure of small bowl, combine caramel sauce and lowfat milk using whisk or spoon. Set aside.
2. In medium nonstick saucepan, begin to melt whipped butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the diced apples, granulated sugar and ground cinnamon. Continue cooking until the apples are lightly browned (about 4 minutes). Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the caramel sauce mixture.
3. Add a 1/2-cup scoop of light vanilla ice cream to five dessert dishes and top each with a nice spoon of the warm cinnamon apple topping.

Yield: Makes 5 servings
Nutrition Information: Per serving (using light vanilla ice cream): 230 calories, 4 g protein, 42 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 22 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 176 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 20 percent.

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• The Obamas: First Couple of Fitness
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